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5 Success Tips for Dyslexia Advocacy

I am so thrilled to have Amy share tips for dyslexia advocacy with you today. Thank you so much Amy, from Mamabearmoms.com for sharing your expertise!

If you have a struggling reader, you may be new to the concept
of advocating for your child’s educational needs. Below are five things every
parent of a student with reading difficulties should do to properly prepare themselves
to advocate for their child’s academic, social and emotional needs.

1.Have Your
Child Evaluated! If you have a child who is struggling to read and is not making
progress with general education interventions, it is imperative that you have
your child evaluated sooner rather than later. Early identification is the key
to success! Although the goal is to keep your child in a general education setting
as long as possible, children with dyslexia need explicit, multi-sensory
instruction that is only offered through special education. In order to be
considered for special education, however, the school must first evaluate your
child. To get the evaluation process started, you need to simply submit a
letter requesting that your child be evaluated for special education. Included
in my free guide is a sample evaluation request letter that you are welcome to
use to get you started [https://mamabearmoms.mykajabi.com/p/is-my-child-at-risk].
The school will then ask for your consent to evaluate your child via prior
written notice. Once the evaluation process is complete, the IEP Team will
consider the test results to determine eligibility. The evaluation process can
take up to 60 school days to complete so it is vitally important to begin the
process as soon as the challenges become apparent so you don’t lose valuable
time. Please keep in mind, however, that schools cannot diagnose. They can only
assess for areas of strength and weakness. In order to get a diagnosis, you
would need to consult with a licensed educational psychologist, a neuropsychologist
or another qualified medical professional to get a private evaluation. Getting
a diagnosis will allow you to get a more complete profile of your child. If
there are other considerations that affect the way your child learns, such as
executive functioning disorder or ADHD, that will be identified in the private
evaluation as well. That way, you can make sure that the IEP addresses all areas
of need.

2.Document
Everything - I cannot stress this enough! Documentation is essential when
you are advocating for your child’s needs. Without documentation, it is
difficult to track progress or lack there of, correspondence and important
documents. Start off by getting a large binder. Divide it up into several sections
and include copies of student work, school/teacher correspondence, progress
reports/report cards, test results, IEPs, (if applicable), etc. Keep in mind, however,
that documentation does not always have to take the form of paper. If your
child is struggling with homework, fluency or decoding, consider videotaping your
child reading so you can chronicle their experience at home. Those recordings
can then be offered as evidence of your child’s struggles, especially if you
find that the experience described by your child’s teachers differs greatly
from your own.

3.Adopt a Cooperative
vs. Combative Mindset – Most parents feel that they need to go into Team
meetings with fire in their eyes. But, you have to remember that the other
members of the Team are people too and they will respond just like people do,
when confronted. That is not to say that you shouldn’t be firm, informed and
ready to defend your child and your child’s needs, but there is definitely a
right and a wrong way to approach it within a Team meeting. If you think that
you will have difficulty keeping your composure in the meeting, consider hiring
an advocate. Their job is to be your voice and to allow you to maintain a good
relationship with the Team. Your advocate can also help you understand what is
going on during the meeting and can explain to you what your options are.
Whatever you do, do not go to a meeting alone, especially if you are new at
this. IEP meetings can be upsetting and overwhelming. It is always helpful to
have someone with you to help you feel less alone in the fight for your child.

4.Focus on
Needs and Goals – As my mentor, Kelli Sandman-Hurley always says, “needs
drive goals and goals drive services”. Every need should be addressed with a
goal and every goal should be associated with a service.
Each goal should be specific, measureable, achievable, results-focused and
time-bound (S.M.A.R.T.), so there is a particular target in mind at the end of
the IEP period. If you feel that the goal is not aggressive enough, you can
either partially reject that portion of the IEP, and/or you can request regular
progress monitoring so you can determine if an IEP amendment is warranted.

5.Review, Reflect
and Strategize! On a fairly regular basis, review and reflect on what has
worked and what hasn’t so you can make the appropriate adjustments. When you go
into an IEP meeting, put some thought into what it is that you are trying to
achieve ahead of time. Make a plan and develop a strategy for getting your
child to where he or she needs to be. If your child is not making effective progress
with the interventions offered by his or her school, you may need to determine
whether the education is appropriate for your child’s needs. There may even come
a time when you need to consider moving your child to a private school to get
access to better services. This is known as “unilateral placement”.

The key to successful advocacy is education, preparation,
organization and strategy. Becoming aware of the terms being discussed, the interventions/services
available to your child and the progress achieved will allow you to feel more
in control of your child’s academic future and his or her success plan. First
and foremost, remember that you are your child’s best advocate and you know
your child better than anyone. Becoming an informed advocate will go a long way
to securing your child’s future success.

___________________________________________

About The Guest Blogger:

Amy Ruocco is
the mother of two, a dyslexia advocate and a fierce warrior for dyslexic
children. Through her website MamabearMoms.com, she educates parents about
the importance of early identification of dyslexia and teaches them how to
advocate for appropriate interventions. To get access to her free guide,
please visit https://mamabearmoms.mykajabi.com/p/is-my-child-at-risk

1 comment:

My name is Emily. I am a mom of four, and an educator who loves creating and blogging about all things literacy! As an Orton-Gillingham instructor, I seek to find and create resources to assist children with dyslexia. Thank you for stopping by my blog today!